Bay-Delta Conservation Plan Invalidated: Delta Management in Flux
Bay-Delta Conservation Plan Invalidated: Delta Management in Flux
On June 24, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael P. Kenny invalidated the entirety of the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan because several central provisions were too vague. The decision has wide-reaching effects on the management of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which is both a sensitive ecosystem and an important part of the State’s water supply.
The Delta Plan was meant to be a comprehensive, long-term management plan, with the goals of ecosystem conservation and water supply stability. The Delta Steward Council, the authoring state agency, was immediately inundated with lawsuits challenging its sufficiency following the Delta Plan’s adoption in 2013.
Judge Kenny agreed with the positions of both water exporters and environmentalists, who argued that the Delta Plan failed to adequately promote options for water conveyance and storage systems besides Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed twin tunnels project, and had otherwise failed to quantify measurable targets for reducing reliance on the Delta as a water source.
Environmentalists especially praised the ruling as an important victory in their opposition to the Governor’s tunnel project. The ruling, however, may also complicate Delta conservation efforts because both the tunnel project and conservation efforts may rely on guidelines set forth in the Delta Plan. The State plans on appealing the ruling.